Standardizing reverberation-mapped H$α$ and H$β$ active galactic nuclei using radius--luminosity relations involving monochromatic and broad H$α$ luminosities

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Main Authors: Cao, Shulei, Mandal, Amit Kumar, Zajaček, Michal, Czerny, Bożena, Ratra, Bharat
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Cao, Shulei
Mandal, Amit Kumar
Zajaček, Michal
Czerny, Bożena
Ratra, Bharat
author_facet Cao, Shulei
Mandal, Amit Kumar
Zajaček, Michal
Czerny, Bożena
Ratra, Bharat
contents We test the standardizability of a homogeneous sample of 41 lower-redshift ($0.00415\leq z \leq 0.474$) active galactic nuclei (AGNs) reverberation-mapped (RM) using the broad H$α$ and H$β$ emission lines. We find that these sources can be standardized using four radius$-$luminosity ($R-L$) relations incorporating H$α$ and H$β$ time delays and monochromatic and broad H$α$ luminosities. Although the $R-L$ relation parameters are well constrained and independent of the six cosmological models considered, the resulting cosmological constraints are weak. The measured $R-L$ relations exhibit slightly steeper slopes than predicted by a simple photoionization model and steeper than those from previous higher-redshift H$β$ analyses based on larger datasets. These differences likely reflect the absence of high-accreting sources in our smaller, lower-redshift sample, which primarily comprises lower-accreting AGNs. The inferred cosmological parameters are consistent within 2$σ$ (or better) with those from better-established cosmological probes. This contrasts with our earlier findings using a larger, heterogeneous sample of 118 H$β$ AGNs, which yielded cosmological constraints differing by $\gtrsim 2σ$ from better-established cosmological probes. Our analysis demonstrates that sample homogeneity$-$specifically, the use of a consistent time-lag determination method$-$is crucial for developing RM AGNs as a cosmological probe.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_19665
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Standardizing reverberation-mapped H$α$ and H$β$ active galactic nuclei using radius--luminosity relations involving monochromatic and broad H$α$ luminosities
Cao, Shulei
Mandal, Amit Kumar
Zajaček, Michal
Czerny, Bożena
Ratra, Bharat
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Physics - Theory
We test the standardizability of a homogeneous sample of 41 lower-redshift ($0.00415\leq z \leq 0.474$) active galactic nuclei (AGNs) reverberation-mapped (RM) using the broad H$α$ and H$β$ emission lines. We find that these sources can be standardized using four radius$-$luminosity ($R-L$) relations incorporating H$α$ and H$β$ time delays and monochromatic and broad H$α$ luminosities. Although the $R-L$ relation parameters are well constrained and independent of the six cosmological models considered, the resulting cosmological constraints are weak. The measured $R-L$ relations exhibit slightly steeper slopes than predicted by a simple photoionization model and steeper than those from previous higher-redshift H$β$ analyses based on larger datasets. These differences likely reflect the absence of high-accreting sources in our smaller, lower-redshift sample, which primarily comprises lower-accreting AGNs. The inferred cosmological parameters are consistent within 2$σ$ (or better) with those from better-established cosmological probes. This contrasts with our earlier findings using a larger, heterogeneous sample of 118 H$β$ AGNs, which yielded cosmological constraints differing by $\gtrsim 2σ$ from better-established cosmological probes. Our analysis demonstrates that sample homogeneity$-$specifically, the use of a consistent time-lag determination method$-$is crucial for developing RM AGNs as a cosmological probe.
title Standardizing reverberation-mapped H$α$ and H$β$ active galactic nuclei using radius--luminosity relations involving monochromatic and broad H$α$ luminosities
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Physics - Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.19665